Mike Robinson, PhD

I am an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience & Behavior at Wesleyan University. My research focuses on brain mechanisms of motivation and reward, especially related to neural generators of reward ‘wanting’ (incentive salience) and ‘liking’ (hedonic impact). A major focus in my lab is how the brain can produce excessive ‘wanting’ for a particular reward, and how this can result in compulsive risky decision-making. My approach includes the use of optogenetics and DREADDs, combined with behavioral approaches to uncover the mechanisms underlying excessive attribution of incentive value for drug addiction, gambling and diet-induced obesity.

Hypothetically that could be possible in the distant future. But it is more likely that we will be able to influence decisions rather than fully control them. Of course before any of that happens we would have to have a lengthy debate about the ethical nature of doing such a thing.